058 - Hegel's Becoming: What it Means, Why it's Unique, and Why it Matters

"Becoming" is addressed very early in Hegel's Science of Logic.  And it provides a foundation for all that follows in his project.  But the concept of becoming is much more than an abstract philosophical term.  It is the foundation of growth, evolution, and all development processes.  

Nietzsche recognized how important Hegel’s concept of becoming was.  Hegel of course preceded Darwin,  and Nietzsche knew that Hegel, with his notion of becoming, had planted the seed for the idea of evolution among European thinkers when he claimed “No Hegel, no Darwin” (Gay Science §357),  

And Nietzsche goes on in same page to say that the notion of becoming, as a process of conceptual development, is a superior notion to just looking at "what is” in isolation.  This has direct correspondence to the left brain/right brain dichotomy discussed here so often.  As well as to the meanings of the German words "verstand" (common understanding) and "vernunft" (holistic reasoning).  

This episode explores Hegel's notion of "becoming" from several standpoints. 

Transcript

Gregory Novak 0:00

Yeah. Hello. This is Gregory Nowak. This is the cunning of Geist episode 58. Welcome back. The purpose of this podcast is to explore philosophy, psychology and science with an emphasis on the great 19th century philosopher. George Wilhem Friedrich Hagle. What is my paradigm. It's simple that there's more going on in the world and blind naturalistic materialism. In this episode. We will delve into the important topic of Hegel's notion of becoming. Now we've discussed, Hegel's becoming and several episodes before, but never directly as, as a main topic. So here we go. Hegel's notion of becoming as detailed. Most specifically in his great work, the science of logic. Which really represents his mature philosophy. Now. Just a moment on this one. I say mature philosophy. It, um, it's a work that he actually penned in it's it's not. Based on notes that were taken during his lectures in his lecture notes. Published, posthumously. after his death. Like, like several of them. As a matter of fact, it might be a good idea to just right now, take a brief review of what, what actually Hagle wrote and what was published afterwards. Bye bye. His students and others. His first published work was in 1801. When he was 31 years old, it was entitled the difference between fictus Schelling's. Systems of philosophy. This was followed by his most famous work. The phenomenal algae of spirit published in 1807 when he was 37 years old. Well, this is his most famous work. Most hago scholars contend that it is not representing his actual mature philosophy. And that's a point that I was making. Not there's later works different, some substantial degree, but is science of logic. And then the encyclopedia, a philosophical science, his layout, his entire system. The phenomenology traces consciousness from brewed awareness onwards with many interesting observations. Whereas the logic and the encyclopedia present his entire system beginning from an abstract place, pure presupposition was being that does not even include human consciousness. Now the difference between the phenomenology and the logic or a subject for a different episode. The key point though, is in discussing becoming I will be referring primarily to his treatment of this, right at the beginning of the science of logic. The science of logic was published. Next in 1812 when he was 42 years old. And this was followed by his encyclopedia of the philosophical sciences. First published in 1817 at the age of 58. With revisions published in 18, 13, and 1816. The encyclopedia contains a condensed version of the science of logic in the first section, often referred to as the shorter logic. Whereas the original science of logic is referred to as the greater logic. Following the shorter logic in the encyclopedia. There are two additional sections. One, a nature and a third on spirit. And put together, this is Hegel's entire system. It represents this complete picture. I have his philosophy and his complete picture of the world we live in and what's going on. His last published work in his lifetime was elements of the philosophy of right. Published in 1821 when he was 51. And this. Outlines his political philosophy based on, based on his system is quite a piece of work. Hopefully we can discuss it more. In the future. Following his death in 1831, several additional works were published as said, based on his lectures, the. The notes his students had taken and his own lecture notes for those lectures. These were. First the lectures on the philosophy of religion, 1832. It was published. Then lectures on aesthetics published in 1835. And then lectures on the philosophy of history. Pumps you in 1837. And finally the lectures on the history of philosophy published in 1892. Okay, now that we've covered this, we've gotten that out of the way. Let's get into a discussion of becoming and why it's so important, what it means. I'll begin with Hegel's notion of it and then branch out into his broader perspectives. Heiko begins the logic with two notions being and nothing. We discussed this in detail way back in episode three. But just to review the key here is that he begins with both a duality is being in nothing. As an aside. It's interesting that the Hebrew Bible begins with the letter B it's the first letter in the Bible of the word bear, chef. And he rued the bladder. B's pronounce bet. And it also stands for the number two in Hebrew. Uh, the Bible does not begin with the letter, a L F in Hebrew. But be bet. Alphas stands for one. Uh, cobble list. Have taken this to signify that the world was created. As a duality. And the Bible states is directly in its very first sentence. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And the first word. The Hebrew word starts. the Hebrew Bible starts the first word we is bare chef meaning beginning. So. Now there's a difference here though, between this biblical interpretation and how Hagle is conceiving of being in nothing. It's not that being in nothing or two separate worlds. And then the beginning God created being and nothing. No, no. It's. actually, he begins with these two notions, but he immediately shows that they are both the same thing yet. Still different. His identity and difference here. And this is. So, uh, what makes Hagle so, so interesting. True. Presupposition was being is in fact, does turn out in fact to be nothing because there's nothing there's, there's nothing there. There's no suppositions. And it does nothing. Without any suppositions is a notion in its own, right? As well, giving it being, so these go back and forth. They become each other. Ah, we said the magic word. Hence becoming. And this is the third concept in handled science of logic. Again, we're not dealing with anything. We're not dealing with reality existence. Uh, anything else? It's just, we start with presupposition as being nothing and how they turn into each other. They become each other and we're left now with a notion of becoming in one single concept. It remains. And is being that is there. Now that it's defined by both pure being and peer nothing. Being turns out to be. Determined that being the German word Hegel's term is the same. Which translated means being there or presence. And, so being there is in fact what becoming is, it's now a single notion. it has transcended the notion of being and nothing is lifted. These two notions up. Into a higher notion. And this is this lifting up is the first time Hagle uses the term ablation and describing this in the logic. Off a bunk in German. We did an entire episode on simulation number 36. Last year and it's a key concept and he Gaylene isn't, it's really sort of the driving wheel of his it's all project. So the one foundational concept in regalian ism is becoming, being that is there and it has two sides to it being in nothing. And this is important to realize nothing just does not. It doesn't just disappear in the move to becoming it is incorporated and becoming lifted up as is. Presupposition was being. becoming incorporates, both being and nothing. In a higher concept. Now. One might say, yeah, that's nice. But this is just words, analyzing some abstract qualities that are they. Does, you're not really saying anything. As to do with me or anything else. That's the problem with philosophizing. It's too abstract. It's not meaningful to actual life. Okay. But what have I told you? That this notion of becoming something you experienced every second of your life. At its most foundational level. And what is that you ask? I will tell you it's how we experienced time itself. Let me explain. The passage of time is the best and perfect example in my mind of what is occurring in haggles becoming. Time flows, they say, but does it. Einstein called it a stubbornly persistent illusion. And we've discussed here. That is not my view. It is stubbornly persistent because it's something we all experience. The present moment dissolves and the new one enters the old present moment is now baked in the past. And the old future now becomes the present moment. Yeah, we do not experience the depth of the moment. All we experience is the continuity of the present, the continuity of the moment, always embracing the future and leaving the past behind. Yes, the present moment persists. And an actuality, this present moment contains both. The being of the future blossoming into the present. And the present moment receding into the nothingness of the past. Both notions are equally existent in the present. Moment. This is a very important concept. It took me many years to wrap my mind around this. Becoming is being that is there does sane. The past is nothing in the future is nothing, but the present moment incorporating being in nothing, is there. It's now determined that meaning that it's been there's definition to it. past and future and not static entities though. If it is one continuous flow, like a river. And Sarah Clyde has said we can never step foot in the same river twice. It's actually quite an amazing process going on here. And it's ubiquitous. All things in the universe are under times umbrella. No, that this notion of time being the same as becoming as nothing to do with Einstein's discovery. The time and space are linked in space time. And that time can speed up and slow down depending on how fast one is traveling. And that even what's before and after can vary for different observers. All that's true. All that's been proven. But the fact of the matter is becoming still working in all these different scenarios. Always present. Always with an arriving future in a departing past. It's always locked in one moment yet. It's always still becoming, it never ends. This, I believe. Is Hegel's unique contribution to philosophy. And to science as well. How he is established becoming as the ablation of being in nothing. And how to understand what becoming is. You have to really understand. Where it comes from the. Being in nothing. Now. Why is this important? Well, here's why it's important. As thinking rational creatures, we have an ability to plan for the future. We can size up situations and take steps to improve things. We can make the world a better place. Becoming allows us to do this. We're not fully stuck in habits and instincts, which we must have bay. We have a certain amount of freedom in the present moment. Of course, much of the present is conditioned by the past and can not be changed. A lot of what we do is instinctual is. It's habitual. Uh, and of course, If I'm dealt a hand of cards, I cannot go back and change the hand I was dealt. I must play the hand. I was dealt. Life is like this. Something's just not in our control. We did not choose our parents, our upbringing. Our experiences when we were very young. But we didn't choose the time period in which we were born. Uh, but on the other hand, a lot of her past. Is under our, it wasn't under our control. How we made use of opportunities, the goals we set, the friends we chose. and we live with those decisions. And we're making choices today, which will impact us in the future. We're putting together a roadmap for our life in the future. Someone once said that the mark of intelligence is the length of one's planning horizon. The longer, the time horizon, the one plans for the more intelligent. Now we cannot forecast too far in the future, but we do know things we can do now to help us in the future. Like saving for retirement. We can realize the advantages that will open up by. Obtaining greater education. And so forth. You know, if you were a buggy whip manufacturer, just when the automobile was taking off, you knew the days of your career were numbered. Today the internet is dramatically changing. Almost every industry companies and professions must adapt or die. The point is that there's freedom in the present moment. And it allows us to take action. Now we're not just following a robotic path. and by making the right choices, now We can improve. Our chances for greater success in the future later on in life. So. Becoming is not some abstract meanings word is central to our own lives and our livelihoods. Now, we've talked about evolution here before and. I mentioned before the. I believe its evolution is a central concept of the universe and it's just, I'm just sort of dressing up becoming and giving it a sexier term evolution. And this is because becoming a central to the universe and. And importantly, though, when I say evolution, I'm this not referring to the blind, random evolution of Darwin. There's conscious evolution as well. There's evolution in thought and awareness. And it's slow at times it can be painstakingly slow, but it is there. Rather than look at becoming a, some dry philosophical term. Think of it as a growing process. One of development. And what ever activity you choose. One can keep on growing. Keep on developing, keep on evolving. Nature recognized how important Hegel's concept of becoming was. Hey go. Of course, proceeded Darwin. But Nisha knew that Hagle had planted the seed for the idea of evolution when he claimed no Hagle, no Darwin. And the case science, let me give you the full quote. Cool. Let's take the astonishing hit of Hagle. Who's stuck at no. Logical usage or fastidiousness when he fenced you're to teach that the conceptions of kinds develop out of one another. With which theory the thinkers in Europe were prepared for the last great scientific movement for Darwinism for without Hagle, they would have been no Darwin and club. Your niche is recognizing the HIG alien concept of becoming that conceptions. We'll develop out of one another and grow. And this conception of becoming took hold in Europe and softened the ground, so to speak. For the acceptance of Darwinism among the great thinkers of that period. When I came along. Nina goes on. Let me quote him further down. Quote, we Germans should still have been hit galleons, even though there had never been a Hagle. And as much as we instinctively attribute to becoming to evolution have profounder significance and higher value than to that, which is in quotes. We hardly believe at all in the validity of the concept called being in quote. And what are you saying here is something quite profound that the German people themselves have held fast to this notion of becoming as a superior notion than what it is to think. Just what is that? Thing. this, this notion of a process of development. Uh, becoming it's in their bloodstream. It's part of the drinking water. He says, this is in Contradistinction to other peoples who put higher value on what is, is as opposed to the process that is occurring. Developing. He clearly states that the German peoples were her galleons and their souls already regarding this point of view. And this has direct reference to the left brain, right? Brain dichotomy. We've discussed here. So often, particularly back in episode 10. So it also has direct relation to the German words. Vernonia reason. And for stomp common understanding for an attempt is more holistic right. Brain reasoning, which is process oriented, developmental reasoning. Whereas restart is left brain either or. You isolate something, you break it down into smaller bits types of thinking. This is what Neetu was, was rejecting. Perhaps it was these German words that helped me to come to this conclusion about the German peoples. And there's no direct translation or no good translation of these two words in English. That's why I have to. Use many descriptions of it to make the point across left brain, right. Brain, et cetera. I can't speak to other European languages, but I think he has a point here. And Henkel certainly used these two words, Vernon. Often for stunt frequently in his writings. Now. As we've seen here. So often our purpose here is to grow, to develop, to evolve. Is that to stagnate? And it's more than just our personal gross out. However, it is the growth and evolution of humanity itself. And the brightest sense that is spiritual growth. And this is really a process of spirit coming to know itself in nature. It's other, this is what becoming is all about. Don't shut it out of your life. Don't say, show me the material evidence for spirit. Come to know that it is a part of you and a part of everyone else, a common bond. And it's working through us. To come to know oneself. We are part of this process, part of this development. You know, there's. There was an inscription at the entrance to the tempo temple of Apollo. At the Oracle of Delphi in ancient Greece. And this inscription has been quoted again and again, by philosophers and sages the world over is this. Know, thyself. Now it's interesting that this was just the first of three inscriptions on the temple. The second one was nothing in excess. Good advice. And the third was certainty. Brings insanity. That's an interesting one. Certainty brings insanity. It's very interesting. It could be taken as meaning. That left brain analysis. kind of thinking alone without balancing it with the right brain thinking. Vernon brings insanity. It's a very good point. Now. But getting back to know thyself, let me quote, Hagle quote. The significance of that absolute commandment, no thyself. Whether we look at it in itself or under the historical circumstances of its first utterance. Is not to promote mere self knowledge and respect of the particular capacities, character propensities. And. Foibles of the single self. The knowledge, it commands. It means that of man's genuine reality. Of what is essentially, and ultimately true in real. Of spirit as the true and essential being in quote. So. That is the purpose of becoming. So we who are in the forefront of life here on earth, in terms of rationality have one core objective that is to know ourselves and nor sells a spirit. Not just a physical body, not just our emotions. Not just our left brain thinking, but spirit, mind that is evolving through us. And through it and by it, we are one. So to summarize. Hagle puts becoming front and center in his philosophy. It was the first logical expression of being that is their terminal being. It's this ablation of being in nothing and it persists. And because it persists it's aspects of being in nothing persist as well. Each present moment in time contains both being in nothing. This present moment in five minutes will be no longer. The anticipated moment, five minutes from now, which does not now exist, will exist. Splits a certain precariousness to life. That we live in time. And each moment we were both here and not here. But we flow on in this state. We can sense its fragileness and it also it's wonder. This is what life is folks. Well, that's it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. And I encourage you to reach out to me in the podcast, Facebook page at cunning of Geist. It's a real pleasure for me to, to do these episodes in. I'm glad that I getting a good response from, from many of the listeners. You can follow me and comment also on Twitter. Also at cunning of Geist. And as always, I'll be listing all the references cited in this episode and the Facebook page. And a day or two, and I'll also be posting a written transcript of this episode there as well later on, it may take me a few. Uh, longer than a few days, it's, it's actually a, um, a little bit of a project don't work with the, uh, the transcript to get it in shape. I also post relevant comments. On the Facebook page. In between episodes. So please check it out. I compare other philosophers to. To what I'm talking about. Other psychologists, other scientists, et cetera. Please like rate and review this podcast wherever you listen. And don't forget to tell your like-minded friends about it as well. Please spread the word and share episodes. As much as you want on social media. So that's it. This is Gregory Nowak. This is the cunning of Geist. See you next time.